What with the current enthusiasm for grandma-core, Flagg’s comforting, nostalgic storytelling may be just the ticket.
Thirty stories showcase the down-home author’s take on various modern dilemmas.
Flagg’s first collection of stories after many popular novels features the sweet, quirky characters and whimsical predicaments she’s known for. Some of the stories are linked; for example, the collection is bracketed by stories about Special Agent William Frawley, who’s sent from distant Planet 8676 to report on human life and find out why they are all so unhappy and staring at their hands. (Can you guess?) Typical Flaggian elements include the fact that the spaceman’s human avatar is based on the actor who played Fred on I Love Lucy, and that once he arrives in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Agent Frawley falls in love with the whole bedraggled human race, but particularly a woman named Debbie, who scoops ice cream at Baskin-Robbins. Another set of stories revolve around “Velma Ruth Vanderhoff, a sweet-looking apple dumpling of a lady, with snow-white hair as soft as cotton candy,” who’s never left her hometown of Cottonwood, Kansas. Her granddaughter Cathy, a yoga teacher in California, desperately wishes her grandmother would get online so they could text and FaceTime, but as it is, she’s confined to expressing her worries about climate change, the patriarchy, and her daughter Tracie Ann’s gender identity on a landline. She could visit…but will there be a charging station for her rented Tesla? Flagg offers a gently humorous grandma’s-eye view of these and other matters, from fat-shaming, racism, and disability rights (“Hunter College,” “The High School Reunion”) to adultery and murder (“Darla Womble”) to the problem of staying in one’s lane for white male authors (“The Fiction Writer”). All in all, the collection is not quite as engaging or successful as Flagg’s novels, but it could serve as either a gateway drug for newbies or a snack pack for die-hard fans.
What with the current enthusiasm for grandma-core, Flagg’s comforting, nostalgic storytelling may be just the ticket.Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2025
ISBN: 9780593734414
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
